The French judiciary has formally charged the former Lebanese minister and chairman of the board of directors of the private bank Al-Mawarid in a French judicial investigation into the assets of Bank of Lebanon Governor Riad Salameh in Europe.
A source familiar with the case told AFP on Friday that the French judiciary charged former minister Marwan Khair El-Din in Paris in late March in a French judicial investigation into the ruler’s assets.
The source explained that Khair al-Din was charged with “forming a criminal gang” with the aim of embezzling public funds by a public official at the expense of the Lebanese state, breaching the trust and bribing the official.
Khair El-Din, 55, was interviewed by European investigators in Lebanon last January.
Khair El-Din is also being prosecuted for money laundering as part of an “organized gang” and has been placed under judicial control by the French judiciary.
It is suspected that Salamah, 72, used the Al-Mawarid bank to transfer funds in an uncontrolled manner in exchange for the services of this bank.
The wealth of Salamah, one of the oldest central bankers in the world, has been the focus of investigations in Lebanon and abroad for two years as he is being prosecuted on several allegations, including embezzlement, laundering and transferring funds to accounts abroad. .
So far, Salama has not been formally charged as part of the French investigation. However, the Governor of the Bank of Lebanon was summoned for questioning on May 16 to France, according to a Lebanese judicial source and a source familiar with the case.
A Lebanese source stated that the Lebanese authorities could not force Salameh to go to France because he was banned from leaving.
The decision was made by the Lebanese judge Gada Aoun, who may lift Salama’s entry ban so he can be brought before a French judiciary.
Salame’s lawyer, Pierre-Olivier Sur, said he was “exploring the possibility of granting this request” because he believed the procedures against his client were illegal.
In mid-March, European investigators, including French investigating judge Aude Borezi, heard Salamah in Beirut.
Salameh consistently denies the allegations against him, believing that his persecution is taking place in the context of a political and media operation to “denigrate” his image, and confirms that he amassed his fortune through his previous work for two decades at Merrill, a global financial institution. . Lynch” and from investments in several areas.
Lawyer William Bourdon told AFP that the indictment against Khair El-Din, the second in a French investigation launched in July 2021, “is a milestone.”
The lawyer for both the Sherpa Association and the Lebanese Victims of Fraud and Crime group, who are the two civilian parties in the case, stressed that “money laundering operations by Salameh and his loved ones will not take place without the participation of bankers in France and other countries.
In June 2022, a close relative of Salama, Anna K., a 46-year-old Ukrainian woman, was formally charged on suspicion of involvement in “complex financial schemes to hide the source of funds embezzled by Riad Salama.” “
In March 2022, France, Germany and Luxembourg froze €120 million worth of Lebanese assets after investigating Salameh and four of his closest associates, including his brother, for money laundering and “embezzlement of more than $330 million in public funds in Lebanon” . dollars and 5 million euros respectively between 2002 and 2021.
Salama’s defense agents are demanding the return of assets worth tens of millions of euros belonging to their client and seized in France, including apartments in the 16th arrondissement of Paris and the Champs Elysées, as well as others in the UK and Belgium, as well as bank accounts and others.
Source: AFP.